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In the third example, Greca’s ( 2016 ) research in inquiry teaching in science also
explored a third space through the use of discursive spaces in which teachers, pre-
service teachers and teacher educators participated. Such spaces were generated by
the teacher educators who developed activities in which the preservice teachers
actively participated. These activities included preservice teachers reflecting on sci-
ence teaching events and designing and implementing a science inquiry sequence
during their professional experience. The research unearthed a number of tensions
for the preservice teachers such as confidence in their teaching ability, student group
work and class behaviour, using inquiry design for teaching science and not know-
ing their ‘place’ in the school community. According to Greca, the source of these
tensions concerned contradictions between the preservice teachers’ knowledge of
theory in universities and practice in schools. Rather than ignore them, generating a
third space in which these tensions could be a focus for discussion proved key to
increasing the preservice teachers’ learning. Like Youens et al.’s ( 2014 ) research,
Greca’s study illustrates the emergence of both a hybrid third space (Bhabha, 1994 )
and a collective third space (Gutiérrez, 2008 ). Conceptualisation of third space in
these distinct yet simultaneous and connected ways shows how new possible solu-
tions to the challenges of traversing the usually contradictory worlds of universities
and schools were generated. As a result, the preservice teachers were positioned to
better construct their identity as effective science teachers.
In each of these three examples, conceptualisation of a third space yielded
knowledge and understanding about ways to bridge the traditional theory-practice
gap. Seen through different, sometimes overlapping, third space lenses, these stud-
ies showed how the intersection of knowledges from preservice teachers, teachers,
teacher educators and students created new knowledges, new practices and new
hybrid roles. Consequently, the development of new professional preservice teacher
identities was possible.
Third Space as a Way of Understanding the Tensions in Teacher
Educator Identity
When teacher educators work in the area of professional experience, and have close
contact with preservice teachers and supervising teachers in schools, their contexts
of professional practice can change considerably. Several researchers have written
about their experiences in these contexts as operating within a ‘third space’ and
have drawn either directly or indirectly on the work of third space theorists. Some
would suggest that this work leads to the development of new perspectives on the
nature of learning and teaching and of themselves as teacher educators. As a school
teacher transitioning to the role of university-based teacher educator, Williams
( 2013 ) did not specifically refer to any of the theorists outlined above in this chapter
and relied mostly on literature that explores the interactions between school- and
university-based teacher educators. However, in finding that her shifting identity as
R. Forgasz et al.